Let's see ... over the course of a number of years of woodworking I've built solid body guitars, hollow body guitars, a couple of mandolins, a banjo, several small furniture items like quilt racks, outdoor furniture, ice chests, a backyard swing, several picture frames and any number of other things ... but not once have I ever built anything that used a joinery method called a "dovetail".

Dovetail joinery is actually a very common and very old way of joining two pieces of wood at a right angle. (you can of course use dovetails to join wood at other than right angles but the common usage is for drawers and cabinetry) In the "old days" and even now many craftsmen consider "handmade dovetail joints" to be a mainstay of fine craftsmanship. These woodworkers accomplish this magic joinery with nothing more than a hand saw, a pencil, a ruler and a practiced eye. Modern day woodworkers typically rely on "jigs" and either a router or a table saw to create the joint. I on the other hand have managed to avoid using this particular joint because of the many articles and books I have read that contend that the setup of the jigs and power tools are beyond the skills of all but the most accomplished woodworker.

A few months ago ... ok ok ok ... about 3 YEARS ago I was in the local "Harbor Freight (HF)" store ... HF is the home of cheaply made, cheaply sold pacific rim tools that one can almost always count on to fail when put into actual use ... but also the place wannabe craftsmen like myself are drawn because of the low prices and ever present "sales and coupons" ... and jumped at the "sale" being had on the HF version of a "half-blind" dovetail jig for routers. (Dovetails come in two flavors basically ... "half-blind" and "through" ... without too much technical detail just know that a quality "through" dovetail router jig from a well known manufacturer (Leigh) will cost $400-$500 ...) The $29 for the HF jig was too good to pass up. After getting the jig home and then reading several woodworker forum posts about how hard the HF jig was to set up and even then how poor the actual fit of the joint ... I quietly stowed the jig in a far corner of the shop (unopened) and promptly resumed my avoidance of the mystical dovetail joint.

Recently, I decided to start a fairly ambitious project for an anxiously anticipated new grandchild and needed to secure lumber for that project. At the same time I came to the decision that I wanted to continue the tradition started by my dad of building a "toy box" for the grandchildren and delivering the toy box on Christmas morning when the grandchild has reached an appropriate age. Zach will be seven this Christmas and it is time to build him a toy box. I visited a saw mill in East Texas and bought white oak for the other project and "aromatic cedar" for Zach's toy box. I recalled that as a boy most of the toy boxes I was familiar with had lots of "knots" in them (cheap pine I suspect) and felt like cedar offered a similar look. Aromatic cedar is more often thought of for "cedar chests" that would hold blankets or clothes I suppose but I believe that this will look great as a toy box as well.

I had located a "plan" for the toy box that gave me an idea of what I wanted to build and the amount of wood required. Once I had the wood at home I examined the plan more carefully and realized that the plan was sketchy on construction details but what was clearly noted was that the "dovetail joints need to be carefully laid out and cut to assure a proper fit ..." ... well thanks a lot bucko ... I considered looking for a different plan but ultimately decided to cowboy up and learn how to execute this troublesome piece of joinery.

I read everything I could find online about using the HF jig including a set of fairly detailed setup instructions posted by another hapless woodworker that had been suckered into the $29 jig sale and forged ahead with its usage ... his assessment was that it was in fact possible to accomplish an "acceptable" joint if extreme care was taken in the jig and router setup. In general woodworking, a 1/16" accuracy is typically acceptable ... but not so in cabinetry ... in that case "perfect is almost good enough ...".

So armed with the additional setup instructions and the instructions that came with the jig ... which were clearly written by someone who's 1st, 2nd and perhaps 3rd language was NOT English ... I dug around in the shop for the box with the jig. I found it under a pile of debris covered in cobwebs, dust and mouse droppings ... opened it up and heaved out the 20 pound Harbor Freight Half-Blind Dovetail jig. I spent about an hour setting up my first test cut using some scrap lumber and dove in ... when finished I fully expected the fit to be "half-assed" having been created by a "half-blind" craftsman on a "half-blind" jig ... but it turned out not to be "half-bad" ... in fact it was far better than I expected.

So ... armed with a new found confidence and again being very very careful with the setup measurements (those changed every time you change wood stock dimensions) I reset the jig to fit the actual cedar I had very carefully cut, jointed and planed to the exact dimensions I wanted for the toy box.

The results are in my opinion very acceptable ... I hope that in the distant future when Zach has passed the toy box down he will remember the story of how G'Pa learned how to dovetail on his toy box.

I have included a few pictures of my progress to date:

From Bade's web log

From Bade's web log

From Bade's web log